A Restaurant That Makes You Think

Are you supposed to eat when you go to a restaurant?Or just order and eat? That's the question that nags at visitors who visit the uber trendy restaurant Vespertine. What exactly is this place? It's popular and expensive - but what else does it represent?

Pete Wells asked almost the same restaurant in his Critic's Notebook in Today's New York Times Food section. The restaurant posing all these conundrums is Vespertine with dishes being artfully prepared by chef and co-owner Jordan Kohn. It starts with entering the place. Mr. Wells wonders if the building is humming or actually breathing - usually not a question asked when entering any eatery,The building itself is strange , as he put its, kind of like putting it too near a toaster oven and having the sides warp.Waiters sound more like the killer albino, Silas from The DaVinci Code, wearing only black slippers and flowing black robes. (which can be unnerving to any diner prone to nightmares) They murmur what the dishes are as they serve them and then drift off to the side. Food is not served on traditional plates, but miniature sculptures that enhance the dish's look.Even Vespertine's website has nothing but an arty Ingmar Bergman type video that shows some dishes being created but mostly a winsome young thing in religious robes traipsing across a honey colored field.This may work in Culver City , So Cal, where this may reign supreme. but would it work in a more snobbish city like New York or in   foodie towns like Chicago,Boston or Philly?

The more important question is how is the food. Yes, it can be artfully done. That's nothing new thanks to the famed Barcelona restaurant El Bulli and its' amazing and highly creative chef, Ferran Adria. Mr. Wells got to experience a black tortilla graced with a branch of water spinach brushed with a turkey emulsion. Tiny yellow pike eggs sparked it as did pink and purple  finger-lime blossoms that were no bigger than shirt buttons. There was kelp with dotted with drops of lovage sauce along with a blob of whipped honey, An artistic black wafer was a crumbly  savory cookie made from black currants and dried onion and brushed with black currant jam.The dishes looked weird but tasted good. Lobster was served in a bittersweet sauce of malted barley syrup and butter along with a spill of tapioca. A brined scallop dish was sauced with yuzu and a tea  tea made from Douglas fir tips. Ovals of asparagus decorate it.There is a tea made from the flowers of the butterfly pea plant. Chef Kahn's dishes are innovative and he does have a following in LA. The problem is for how long can he be creative and do diners really want to go through the whole experience?Again, this concept works well in California and only California.  Most people who eat out want to eat - only the rare foodie would want their dinner to be a work of expensive art.

Which brings us back to the question - what is Vespertine? Is it a restaurant that serves arty food?Or an art  gallery that serves edible works? Either way it is unique.

Not Your Average Italian Cook

Italian cuisine is the most traditional of all cuisines.Or is it?There 's a new kind of chef that's rethinking traditional dishes while still honoring centuries of good recipes.He's creating quite a stir and gaining a massive fan base. Melissa Clark not only got to interview this chef,Massimo ,Bottura but got to sample his nonna's risotto, a milky creation that include the usual arborio rice AND cappuccino . Chef Bottura come from Modena, a well known culinary area where fresh ingredients and good recipes abound.He is the chef and owner there of the three starred Osteria Francesana.Ms.Clark opened up her kitchen to him where he made riso al latte or rice and milk.This is a traditional dish grandmothers male for the or nicotini or grandchildren.However he modernizes it with a covering of bread crumb foam,this last thanks to his nitrous oxide siphon.Even wilder is the tomato berry salad drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar.Ms Clark liked this,her daughter, more of food critic than her mom, didn't. Well not at first.He gave her a puff of breadcrumb foam(Chef Bottura specializes in foam) and she didn't cotton to it.However both mother and daughter loved the rice underneath, after he added some sweetened cappuccino.This is more of a dessert than a dinner.Think an espresso laced rice pudding which would be great after grilled meat or another Bottura recipe bollito misto or boiled meat. Chef Bottura is somewhat of a wild card on the Italian restaurant scene.He takes traditional recipes and zings them into another stratosphere. Ms Clark fell in love with his dishes when she visited his restaurant in Modena.His plates are a mix of traditional Emilia Romagna and an homage to Ferran Adria, the great chef who introduced foamed sauces to the public at his famed El Bulli.It comes as no surprise then to learn that the chef spent a summer working there, learning and absorbing the take on post Modern cooking.Like Chef Adria he combines science with cooking.He is known for Memory Of A Mortadella Sandwich, a rosette of mortadella foam along with Snow Under The Sunan unusualamd highly interesting raw potatoes with porcini gelatin coffee powder and snails.His take on bollito misto was almost considered a sacrilege by fellow chefs because he re imagined it as the Manhattan skyline.The meat is not boiled but cooked sous vide,cooking it in. Gasp plastic bags.He has famous fans too who praise his outré ideas such as the late and always great Lou Reed,along with fellow chefs Mario Battali who dubbed him the Jimi Hendrix of Italian Chefs.For fans or those curious about his recipes, Chef Bottura has a brand new cookbook Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef. Chef Bottura is rethinking and changing the face of Italian cuisine.It may not be what purists want but it is what modern foodie's want.It is different but still maintains the flavors and ingredients of a traditional Italy.